Since Jill Stein only shows up every 4 years I wanted to quickly remind everyone, not just of this photo, but how notoriously difficult to it is to have access to war criminal Vladimir Putin, let alone *a seat at a table with him*. Backing Jill Stein is willful ignorance.

#Election #election2024

@skykiss Wow, from 2015. "It was a (red) star-studded affair, the December 2015 dinner celebrating the 10th birthday of Russian TV network RT... President Vladimir Putin & a host of Russian luminaries toasted a state-backed news channel that U.S. intelligence calls a Kremlin mouthpiece...And next to Putin...was an American. Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who would later become Donald Trump's national security adviser...Also at the head table...Jill Stein."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/guess-who-came-dinner-flynn-putin-n742696

@CStamp @skykiss Being seated briefly next to someone doesn't mean you have access to power. I do prefer Stein's rhetoric to Harris's or Trump's, but that's the luxury of living in a blue state.
https://www.newsweek.com/jill-stein-ties-vladimir-putin-explained-1842620

@Jwharrison @skykiss "An NBC News review of video and photos from the RT gala shows a healthy serving of ex-spies, cronies and oligarchs, with a side of friendly journalists and another American."

"Stein's 2016 campaign was heavily promoted by RT..."And my own connection to RT, you know ironically, it takes a Russian television station to actually be open to independent candidates in this country and that is a shame.""

Russian propaganda is feeding her campaign. That is foreign interference.

@CStamp @skykiss Nothing new. People on the left, anti-war, and civil rights movements have been accused of being useful idiots who spread Russian propaganda for decades. The goal of Russia promoting right wing AND left wing talking points this election is to provoke insults and discord, e.g. accusing people you disagree with as being guilty of "willful ignorance."

@Jwharrison @CStamp @skykiss

i need you to read up on duverger's law

go ahead, i'll help you:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger%27s_law

then you need to realize that in our shit FPTP voting system, 3rd parties can only serve as spoilers

i don't like that. i want us to have ranked choice voting, then we can vote our conscience, free and clear

but until then, voting 3rd party in the usa *only* works for putin

i don't like that. but that is the reality. and you need to accept that reality

@benroyce @Jwharrison @CStamp @skykiss In Canada it's FPTP with multiple parties, often resulting in no clear majority and then the major parties fight for coalitions with favors from the smaller ones.

For multiparty government coalitions you need a culture of trust and cooperation - not sure that's part of the current mode of operation in Washington.

I hope a Harris Government can set the bar for respectful disagreement and purposeful cooperation, not appeasement, across the aisle.

@rhempel @Jwharrison @CStamp @skykiss

excellent point and a further clarification:

#canada has a #parliamentary system

parliamentary systems bolster 3rd parties

the #usa does not enjoy this benefit

the full force of #duvergerslaw applies to us

we need #rankedchoicevoting #rcv to vote our conscience in the usa

until then, voting 3rd party in the usa only serves as a spoiler

i don't like that, but it is the unfortunate truth about our fucked up #fptp system: we *have* to vote strategically